Hello everyone,
Much is happening in the 3D Lab, even with winter break and the holidays soon approaching. A particularly interesting project involves students building robots to climb steps. While a seemingly simple task among us humans, it poses a large challenge to our student engineers!
The robots were built from LEGO Mindstorms parts which involves bricks, motors, sensors, and a large CPU brick that serves as the robot’s brain.
The most successful robot of the bunch
This clever robot “took the high road” and descends instead of climbs
Who needs steps when you can use a ramp?
Another clever design
The step climbing competition went very well. While most robots did not complete the climb, one of them made it (with the help of a ramp made from LEGO pieces) and one of them almost made it by navigating a long route through the building, avoiding the stairs altogether. The long robot with many treads (first photo) was the successful climber and was developed by Mitchell Waugh and Taylor Black. The robot that “took the long way home” is shown in the second photo and was developed by Joshua Baker, David Klett, and Neil Whitesell.
One of our students recently had a baby and wanted to commemorate the event. He had some decorative marble to see what he could do with the laser engraver. The engraver supports etching wood, plastic, and coated metals, but it also supports glass, marble, and stone. The result came-out beautifully! If you are interested in project ideas that can be accomplished with laser engraving at the Wayne College 3D Lab, please visit https://www.epiloglaser.com/resources/sample-club.htm
Speaking of the laser engraver, one of our students assembled an excellent video tutorial for it. Tim Winkler used Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects to create the video, hosted by our own Anthony Howell. If you wish to use the engraver to make gifts for the holidays, please visit us for free lessons!
We are pleased to announce that the 3D Lab recently received a generous donation from Tim and Jenny Smucker of The J.M. Smucker Company. This funding will allow our lab to grow in ways previously not possible and continue to provide a free, accessible service to students, hobbyists, inventors, local schools, and organizations throughout Wayne County. Thank you!
A family recently visited the lab, as some very young patrons were interested in making things. It’s amazing to see how readily young adults understand concepts of vector art and 3D design as well as the process of laser engraving and 3D printing. They created their own designs using Corel DRAW, then laser engraved colorful metal notepads (courtesy of P. Graham Dunn). Another young patron CAD designed a key from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on his home computer, then 3D printed a replica on our original 3D printer (donated by the Laura B. Frick Charitable Trust). Lastly, a very young patron created snowflakes on another printer. They had a fun time and learned new skills in the process!
Creating notepad designs with Corel DRAW
Laser engraving notepads
3D printing snowflakes
Don’t forget, Schantz is offering an Open House for their makerspace tomorrow on Saturday, December 5th from 11am to 1pm. Have an idea for a wood or metal working project but don’t have the right tools at home? Need access to CNC router technology or laser engraving? Are you interested in learning the skills of the workshop or how to operate these project-enhancing machines? Schantz MakerSpace (in Orrville, Ohio) has everything you need! Please see the attached flyer for details.
Are you interested in a 3D printer for home? Here are this year’s best recommendations:
http://makezine.com/2015/11/04/digital-fabrication-shootout-winners
See how 3D printing brings history to life:
http://share.uakron.edu/mailAll/Digest/article/1220827
Until next week,
Tom